37. Orphan Train - Christina Baker Kline

read on my iPhone/Kindle

2013, William Morrow Paperbacks

304 pgs.

YA/Adult CRF/HistFict

Finished 6/15/14

Goodreads Rating:  4.08

My Rating: 4.5/Super story

Setting: 2011 MDI, Maine and 1929 (+) Minnesota

1^st sentence/s:  "I believe in ghosts.  They're the ones who haunt us, the ones who have left us behind."

My comments:  4.5  I love books that flip back and forth in time, as this one does.  One orphan in 1929 Minnesota and another in 2011 Mount Desert Island, Maine.  (What a hoot reading about Somesville OneStop, Bar Harbor, MDI High School, and even the Island Explorer bus).  Which town is Spruce Harbor - Southwest Harbor I'm guessing.  I couldn't put this down - such trials and heartbreak each of these protagonists have endured.

Goodreads Summary:  The author of Bird in Hand and The Way Life Should Be delivers her most ambitious and powerful novel to date: a captivating story of two very different women who build an unexpected friendship: a 91-year-old woman with a hidden past as an orphan-train rider and the teenage girl whose own troubled adolescence leads her to seek answers to questions no one has ever thought to ask.

     Nearly eighteen, Molly Ayer knows she has one last chance. Just months from "aging out" of the child welfare system, and close to being kicked out of her foster home, a community service position helping an elderly woman clean out her home is the only thing keeping her out of juvie and worse.
     Vivian Daly has lived a quiet life on the coast of Maine. But in her attic, hidden in trunks, are vestiges of a turbulent past. As she helps Vivian sort through her possessions and memories, Molly discovers that she and Vivian aren't as different as they seem to be. A young Irish immigrant orphaned in New York City, Vivian was put on a train to the Midwest with hundreds of other children whose destinies would be determined by luck and chance.
     The closer Molly grows to Vivian, the more she discovers parallels to her own life. A Penobscot Indian, she, too, is an outsider being raised by strangers, and she, too, has unanswered questions about the past. As her emotional barriers begin to crumble, Molly discovers that she has the power to help Vivian find answers to mysteries that have haunted her for her entire life - answers that will ultimately free them both.
     Rich in detail and epic in scope, Orphan Train is a powerful novel of upheaval and resilience, of second chances, of unexpected friendship, and of the secrets we carry that keep us from finding out who we are

23. Gingersnap - Patricia Reilly Giff

2013, Wendy Lamb Books, Random House

147 pgs.

Written for Middle grades

Finished 5/2/2014

Historical Fiction

Goodreads Rating: 3.37

My Rating: Liked it - with reservations (see below)

TPPL

Setting: 1944 Brooklyn, NY

1^st sentence/s:  "I'll be right there, Rob," I called.  Did my brother hear me?

My comments:  :This was a good story, but there were several weird additions and subtractions that keeps it only "good."  The protagonist, Jayna, has a ghost accompany her once in awhile throughout the story.  Why?  For me it was unbelievable and pointless.  And finding a long-lost grandparent or extremely close friend-of-the-family?  Even in the 1940's if there was a death in the family, survivors would be sought, contacted....  Then there was the useless, confusing-a-that-point prologue.  The finding-a-new-family and the setting of Brooklyn were wonderful and could have been more deeply explored.  Oh well.  On to the next....

Goodreads Summary:  It's 1944, W.W. II is raging. Jayna's big brother Rob is her only family. When Rob is called to duty on a destroyer, Jayna is left in their small town in upstate New York with their cranky landlady. But right before he leaves, Rob tells Jayna a secret: they may have a grandmother in Brooklyn. Rob found a little blue recipe book with her name and an address for a bakery. When Jayna learns that Rob is missing in action, she's devastated. Along with her turtle Theresa, the recipe book, and an encouraging, ghostly voice as her guide, Jayna sets out for Brooklyn in hopes of finding the family she so desperately needs.

35. After the River the Sun - Dia Calhoun

2013, Atheneum Books for Young Readers

348 pgs.

Written for middle grades

Finished 9/1/2013

CRF told in verse

Goodreads Rating: 4.0

My Rating: 4/ Loved it

TPPL

Setting: contemporary eastern Washington state

1^st sentence/s: 

"Eckhart rode a Greyhound bus

that charged down'the icy mountain road

like a knight's steed,

heedless of danger.

Lost in a game

on his Nintendo 3DS,

Eckhart didn't hear 

the tire chains rattle, didn't see

the snow pelting the window,

didn't think

about where he was going."

My comments:  Gorgeous writing. Really beautiful. Storyline is also excellent, but there are a few downfalls for me - two, actually. Uncle Al's turnaround towards Eckhart is just too sudden. A 360-degree turnaround practically overnight? I know he'd had the revelation of Eckhart's bravery, but only a few hours before this turnaround he wouldn't even look or speak to the boy? I don't care how much this adult was suffering, other personality traits didn't jive with his actions. And the second, for me personally, there was too much King Arthur. I know much of the book's premise was following the King Arthur story, but it was too much for me. It would be great for the King Arthur lover. Oh, and one more thing? $500,000 for a violin? I'm with Uncle Al on that one!  And isn't the cover gorgeous?

Goodreads Review:  Will Eckhart find the courage to rise from his past—and climb to his future? This quest for home is a stunning companion to Eva of the Farm. When Eckhart Lyon arrives at Sunrise Orchard, all he wants to do is play video games and read about King Arthur’s knights. Anything that helps him forget that his parents drowned in a river, forget his own cowardliness. Eckhart doesn’t want to clear the dead orchard, or explore the canyon, or do anything else that stern Uncle Al asks. After all, Uncle Al is only taking him in on trial, and Eckhart can’t imagine the orchard ever becoming his real home.  Then, up in the canyon, he meets Eva—a girl with a wild imagination and boundless hope who knows all about King Arthur’s knights. With her help, Eckhart sees that he is on a knightly quest of his own: a quest for home and courage. But what if he’s forced to choose between a new home and his most treasured possession—a gift from his mom?

32. The Lock Artist - Steve Hamilton

Minotaur Books, 2009
paper $14.99
305 pgs. ( and then Ch. 1 of upcoming Misery Bay)
Genre:  Mystery
Rating:  4

Setting:  Back and forth between 1991 and 2000, Michigan, then short stints in NYC and LA.

One-sentence summary:  Mike, a mute young man ending a ten-year prison sentence, tells the story of how he became a safecracker and ended up in prison.

When I began this book I had my doubts about whether I'd enjoy the format - each chapter going backward or forward, telling two continuous parts of the story simultaneously.  But it really worked - I didn't get lost or confused and I couldn't put the book down.

Some unknown incident in Mike's life so traumatized him that he lost his ability to speak at age 8.  Part of the mystery is to discover more about this incident.  And the rest is to watch his journey from inquisitive, sad youth to safecracker and thief.  He is an "innocent"...and I cheered for him all along the way.

This is a story of how life can overwhelmingly control you until you become strong enough - or care enough - to take control yourself.

Super story, formatted cleverly.

39. The Heaven Shop - Deborah Ellis

For: Middle school & YA
Fitzhenry & Whiteside (Canada) 2004
186 pages includes author's note and question/answer interview
Rating: 4

Contemporary Malawi, Africa.

Told from 13 year old Binti's point of view, we meet her, her 14 year old brother, Kwasi, and her 16 year old bossy sister, Junie. They live happily in Blantyre, the largest city in Malawi, with their father, who has a coffin-making business run from their modest home. It's called The Heaven Shop. The do well enough to be sent to private school to get a good educations, and Binti is an actress/reader in a radio program that everyone in the country hears in weekly serial form.

HIV and AIDS are everywhere, killing indiscriminately, and about a third of the way through the book, the father weakens and dies. His brothers and sisters take all the family belongings, sell the house and business, and separate the siblings, making them work like servants. Binti has been spoiled, but she becomes stronger and more sure of herself as she takes off to find the grandmother that she barely knows.

The story is one of hope, of course. There is much discussion about AIDS, its stigma, condoms, prostitution, and monthly menstrual cycles, which makes the book still a little too old for my fourth graders. But I'd love to see kids of a bit older persuasion read this - good information, and a clearcut look into the lives of people in subSaharan Africa.

Deborah Ellis wrote Breadwinner, one of my all-time favorite books, about a young girl dealing with the Taliban in Afghanistan. A Canadian writer with quite a few awards - well deserved awards -- Deborah Ellis is an author I am always pleased to read. This wa a good one.

36. Year of No Rain - Alice Mead

For: Middle Grades
Dell Yearling/Random House, 2003
130 pgs.
RL 4.5, ages 9-12
Rating: perfect for my 4th grade Africa Unit
Dedication: For the children of South Sudan

It is 1999. Stephen Majok's life is irrevocably changed when his southern Sudan village is attacked, cows and relief food stolen, and most people killed. Stephen had been sent to hide in the woods, and returns to find his mother dead and his older sister gone. No one is left, the food has all been stolen, the rope to the well is gone so water is unavailable, everything seems useless. So Stephen and his two friends set off for Kenya, or at least for somewhere they can find food and shelter.

This is the story of 10-year-old Stephen's journey. Trying to find water, protecting themselves from lions, hiding from trucks and planes that transport soldiers, and even contracting malaria are some of the hazards of this new life. The reader gets a feel for Sudan - its way of life, its landscape, and some customs of the Dinka people. It's somewhat adventurous, and incredibly difficult to imagine. It's real...and it's contemporary. It's happening now, and kids can learn about Africa as well as current events. A tough topic.

Yes the mother dies, but it is not too graphic..."He ducked his head and entered and saw immediately that his mother was there, dead. Keeping his eyes averted, he quickly covered her with a straw mat."

I think Alice Mead did a good job.

Muktar and the Camels - Janet Graber

Illustrated by Scott Mack
Christy Ottaviano Books/Henry Holt, 2009
$16.99
32 pages
For: Kids
Rating: 3.5
Endpapers: Sky blue

Muktar is a Somalian regugee, living in an orphanage in Kenya. He misses his life as a nomad traveling with his parents and their camels. He had learned everything about caring for the camels, and he misses his old life and his family, who were killed in the wars in Somalia. One day a librarian from Garissa brings books on the backs of three camels to the orphanage. Muktar notices that one of the camels has a cut on his foot, and he repairs it. The librarian realizes that having a helper versed in camels would be a great help to him, so Muktar's fate is happily found.

You can see the texture of the canvas in the paintings. I'm thinking that Mr. Mack used pastels, the illustrations have a chalky look. A good story to share to help make kids more aware of what's happening in different parts of our world. The map of Africa at the beginning of the story is pretty cool. There's a short Author's Note at the end that gives a little more infomration about the civil war in Somalia and the camel convoy that delivers books eight times a year to schools and orphanages in the boonies of Kenya.